Saturday, June 30, 2007

Here's some everyday advice for the rest of you. Just things I've picked up along the way...

* If you are in charge of the music that plays over the speakers in a business establishment and you use your Ipod to make a playlist that is appropriate listening...Make sure that you double check the playlist so that you didn't accidentally add an unknown song to the playlist. There is nothing more embarrassing then trying to sell a vacuum to an elderly lady and out of nowhere "Baby Got Back" by Sir-Mix-A-Lot comes blaring over the loud speakers.

* When eating a muffin...Remember that muffins are crumbly and that you need to keep track of where the crumbs land. It's not good when you go to greet your friends, your boss, a customer, or the President Of The United States Of America, and a chunk of blueberry muffin is dangling from your chin.

* Be sure that you know what your skills are. Don't tell people you can play the xylophone if you've only tried it once...someday someone is going to call you on it, and the next thing you know you are 3rd chair xylophonist for the New York Philharmonic and you have no clue what you are doing.

* Parents... Not every kid is going to be a concert pianist. If your child hates piano lessons let the child quit. If you don't they will end up hating the piano AND you....instead of just you.

* If you are out in an abandoned mine shaft or an empty amusement park and you see a gang of teenage mystery solvers and their talking dog looking for clues...leave them alone, that's important work they're doing.

Sometimes I just have to let myself blog stupid things or else I'll bottle it up inside and actually say it in public. Thanks for letting me vent!

Friday, June 29, 2007

Divorce is on the rise in this great country, rising to levels never before seen. And why? Well to tell you the truth for the most part, with lots of exceptions, I blame men. I blame that hedonistic mindset that dwells in us all. It's our sin nature to look out for #1. But men in this country have let movies, media, and peers without our best interest in mind tell us that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. They say that being a man isn't complete until you have barbie hanging on your left arm and a glass of beer in the other. There is nothing manly about abandoning a promise. So many of us are living as if there is nothing bigger than us. Ourselves are our only God. And what a lousy God at that. Men have got to get a grip on reality. If a man leaves his wife in search for a more trophy like wife he just might be happy.......for the equivalent of about 5 minutes. Than guess what, that hole that he was trying to fill will be gaping once again. So goodbye trophy wife #2. And the sick cycle carousel will continue on and on. And that's because the void is being filled with items that cannot satisfy eternally.This is why God patterned marriage the way he did. Because when you have your eyes first set to him then the satisfaction in your wife and family will be enhanced. The void is filled and filled eternally. It's something that American men are so ignorant to that having 4 or 5 failed marriages seems minor to them. It's an American disease that is frustrating and scary. Love God, Love your wife, and be happy. It's really not a complicated thing to understand. It's not always easy to love God and your wife, but nothing that is worthwhile in this world is ever easy. Never forget that.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Well there certainly is no one that is knocking my socks off. The Christian vote is going to be all over the map this year. Which means that the democrats are the high favorites.So far my choice is probably between the more liberal Rudy Giuliani and the semi-conservative Fred Thompson.

I honestly wanted to vote for Jeb Bush. He rocks. But he isn't running.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Gotta love it! The cool thing about Shane Bernard is that he doesn't read music, he isn't a guitar prodigy...he just knows how to manipulate the guitar to make it sound beautiful. This is one of my favs...

Saturday, June 16, 2007

From Ravi's address to the United Nations' Prayer Breakfast. Read the rest at RZIM.org....

You see, postmodernism plays word games with us. Postmodernism tells us there’s no such thing as truth; no such thing as meaning; no such thing as certainty. I remember lecturing at Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in this country. I was minutes away from beginning my lecture, and my host was driving me past a new building called the Wexner Center for the Performing Arts. He said, “This is America’s first postmodern building.” I was startled for a moment and I said, “What is a postmodern building?” He said, “Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.” I said, “So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?” He said, “That is correct.” I said, “Did he do the same with the foundation?” All of a sudden there was silence. You see, you and I can fool with the infrastructure as much as we would like, but we dare not fool with the foundation because it will call our bluff in a hurry.

Ravi is right. The world is trying to destroy truth. Truth cannot be destroyed.

Friday, June 15, 2007

vibramfivefingers.com is the site where you can find these crazy looking things. They're called Five Fingers. I had this idea years ago in my mind. It's like being barefoot but at the same time having your feet protected. Which of my friends will buy me a pair first?

Thursday, June 07, 2007

This is a rerun of an earlier post of mine but I thought it would be appropriate today...I've talked about this before but it bears repeating. I believe that persecution of Christians is spreading throughout the world. We Christians here in America do not know how good we have it. In China they are attending church underground. In other parts of Asia and Africa they have to jump major hurdles just to have a church. So are we free and clear here in America?

This is where we are. In America protestant Christianity remains the only religion that is fair and open game to be dragged through the mud on television and in movies. It's usually subtle but recently especially on TV there seems to be a jab at Christians in almost every new show. Usually they portray Christians as being fanatics and hatemongers. Hollywood will mock the religious majority like they were some sort of societal freaks.Being a Simpsons fan I have watched pretty much every episode ever made. Slowly throughout that show's run I have watched Christianity increasingly become a mockery more and more times. It eventually went beyond Ned Flanders the flawed but lovable religious neighbor. In a recent episode the show took a shot at the crucifixion ("The salad of the Christ") that was so offensive that I became angry and simply shut off the TV for the rest of the night.

No other religion is attacked like this. But we should absolutely not be surprised by it. It will continue to happen and it will happen with more gusto. Jesus told us not to be shocked by what will be done in the future to believers.This is where my prediction comes in:

I believe that Christianity, mainly protestant evangelical, will continue to be subtly mocked by the elitist media for the next 65 years. I think it will remain subtle yet slightly increase up until then. Somewhere around 65 years from now the persecution of Christians in North America will begin slowly. At first it will be some kind of registration program with churches, and public churches will begin to be regulated by the government. Possibly some sort of religion tax will begin. Probably at first this will include most religions. For the next 50 years the persecution of "Born-again" Christians will be brought into more prominence. After this all hell will break loose as it already has at this point in most of the world, Christians will be registered and monitored heavily. Soon full blown religious persecution will be throughout the entire world. Christians will probably either be put into camps or killed not unlike the Jews during WWII. Eventually it will not be safe for Christians to live publicly anywhere in the world.

Actually this really isn't my prediction, It comes straight out of the Bible. I'm simply putting my timeframe on it. And to be honest a lot of Christians believe that it will happen way before I stated above. But there is no denying that it will happen if you are a believer in God's Word. Ignore books like "Left Behind" and concentrate on the source.

And guess what...The ACLU will be the ones that head the whole thing up from the beginning. Gee, they seem to be practicing now. That's right, the very ACLU that supposedly supports and fights for the constitution (yeah right) will be at the forefront of making sure that Christians, who founded this country and based it's governing document upon the foundations of Christianity, have no rights as afforded in the constitution.

As for right now we ought to get on our knees as believers and thank God daily for where we live and the freedom we have because it isn't going to be like this forever. And unfortunately I think our days of ease in this country are shorter than we realize.

I don't mean to get all Jack Van Impe on everyone, I just feel like we had better bring this up every once in awhile so we can be thankful for what we have now

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

A big question that Christians face from skeptics and non-believers is: "Do you believe in Miracles?"I remember back when I used to get into discussions in my younger days I would say yes but I never could really back up what I was saying with proof or modern day examples beyond a few healings and rumors of instant miracles.

But God has opened up the light to me when it comes to the truth about miracles. A slow miracle is no less impressive than an instant miracle. Consider the fact that you are breathing right now without even having to think about it. Is that not a miracle? Is life itself not a baffling miracle?

Consider the advances in medicine. Is God somehow out of the loop when someone is cured of a deadly infection using anti-biotics? His hand provided the wisdom to the chemist who came up with just the right concoction. Plus what about the raw materials that the chemist used to create the medicine...Did God not create the natural things that eventually were mixed together in just the right way to create such a miracle healer?

What about child birth? Babies grow from nothing more than little microscopic beings to 6 feet tall humans who have brains that are advancing technology, education, and medicine beyond what we ever thought was possible. Is somehow God not a part of that??

Miracles are all around us but we have become so egocentric that we believe that we did this ourselves. When I start to have doubts about the miracles that surround me in this world I remember what the Lord said to Job when he spoke from out of the whirlwind in Chapter 38 starting in verse 4:

"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you understand."

And that's all I need to remind myself I am not God and He is. And thank God for that! A slow miracle is no less impressive than an instant miracle.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

Technology is always changing...we all know that. But watch this video carefully. This is Microsoft's new table top computer. When I first saw the story about Microsoft's table top on the drudge report earlier this week I thought, "Big Deal!" It looked like the table top Pacman arcade game that they used to have in almost every Pizza Hut across this great land. But after I saw this video I was floored. The way they transfer pictures from the camera to the PDA just looks so futuristic. All you Apple users pay attention!